Friday, November 21, 2014

Whoa. It's been a LONG time, blog friends. Apparently I took the summer and autumn off from posting. Good for me.

ANYWAY. HELLO!

Things have been great, I've been drawing things, painting things, printing things and I'm working on something new that I'm so excited about.

What it is... A personal project involving painting and mail. A project celebrating one of my favorite things about this country - the preservation of wild spaces.

How it came about... I was laying in bed a couple months ago, unable to sleep, trying to think of a new project that had a set number of pieces and a process that would put the pieces out into the world. I would document the process online as is done with things like this these days but I wanted it to go further - and farther.

I thought about an alphabet or something about the seasons but those numbers (26 or 4) seemed too small, I needed something a little more ambitious. The thing with a set number I came up with was the U.S. National Parks.

(Sketches)

Here's what I'm going to do... I am researching our 59 national parks, I am filling a small sketchbook with loose painty sketches for each of the parks, and I am making a little watercolor painting inspired by each of the parks.

(Painting for Yellowstone)

Each week of 2015 I will be mailing out a painting to one national park and also posting the painting online. I am completing the paintings and mailing them in the chronological order in which the parks gained their National Park status. I am using the addresses listed as the official mailing addresses of the parks, some are not located within the actual park but hopefully they'll get close.

(Sketches)

This project is part examination of treasured wilderness protected by our government and part thank you love letter to those who work so tirelessly to preserve special places for the plants and animals that live there as well as human visitors. It's also an exercise in routine and process for me. A way to create art I care deeply about but I don't consider so precious that I won't just send it off into the world.

I'm not expecting any response from the parks, but wouldn't that be fun! I am simply sending my art on ahead of me to the parks I haven’t visited yet and back to the parks I have been to.

It feels great to have a personal project with deadlines and a set schedule for creation. I hope you'll follow along on the journey.

And you know something is super official when you have a stamp for it. :)

If anyone is reading this, I would love to know about your thoughts/feelings/ideas about the National Parks. Do you have a favorite? Is there one you've visited more than once? I've only been to three of the 59 but I hope to add a few more to my list soon.

Thanks for reading!
xo
Sarah

(A photo from my recent trip to a state park - the White Mountains in my native NH.)